Cherry Creek’s Sims focuses college hopes on long snapping

Luke Sims hopes that by specializing in long-snapping, he can play college football.

The path less traveled, Luke Sims hopes, will be the path that takes him to college football.

Sims, a Cherry Creek offensive lineman, made a choice his freshman year to concentrate on being a long snapper.

He’s since spent his springs and summers attending national camps for the position — including the prestigious Top 12 camp as put on by Chris Rubio, which invites only 24 players. (In 2010, 35 products of Chris Rubio’s instruction accepted scholarship offers.)

“I wanted to play (offensive line) in college, but I didn’t really get the size for that,” said Sims, who is 5-feet-10, 238 pounds. “I want to go to a D-I school, and I figured that the best way to do that would be long-snapping. I’d done it before, and it’s a good way to get on the field. I started going to these camps and getting coaching for it, and I just got better at it.”

Sims has started at center for Cherry Creek since he was a sophomore. Should he move on to the next level — Sims has had contact with CSU, Wyoming, Kansas State and Iowa State — he’d strictly be a long snapper.

“I love playing O-line, and I’m going to miss it,” Sims said.

Luke Sims

The nature of long-snapping is akin to kickers: no one knows who you are, unless you make a mistake.

“You’ve got to practice every single day, because, you know, it’s repetition, repetition, repetition,” Sims said. “When you get on the field, you have one chance to make a good snap, or else everyone knows your name.”

Given the chance, Sims said he’d like to play at CSU.

“It’s close to home, my parents can come watch and it’s just right up the road,” he said.

Scroll down to see video of Sims in action.

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Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.